CNET editors' review
-
CNET editors' rating:
stars
OK
Detailed editors' rating
- Reviewed on: 07/17/2007
- Released on: 05/16/2007
With iPod capacities reaching 80GB--and having no place to go but up--many people have most or all of their entire music collections stored on their magical music boxes. Instead of digging for a favorite CD, true iPodders are likely to just plop their player in the dock, dial up a song or playlist, and let the music play over the speakers of their home stereo system. Of course, in this age of instant gratification and ultrashort attention spans, setting the player to "shuffle" just won't do--some people just need to hear Brahms back-to-back with Bon Jovi, but they just can't be bothered to get off the sofa and walk across the room to work the iPod's touch wheel. And that's exactly where the DLO HomeDock Music Remote ($130 list) comes into play. The DLO's dock wirelessly transmits the iPod's display info to a tiny handheld remote, so you can navigate the player's entire music collection from afar. And because it utilizes RF wireless, the signal can travel through walls and obstructions, so it works whether you're in an adjoining room, or even out on the deck.
The DLO HomeDock Music Remote basically consists of two halves: a small iPod docking station and a handheld remote control. The dock is about twice as deep as the default Apple model because it's got two recharging bays: an iPod sits up front, and--when it's not in use--the HomeDock remote sits in the rear. The dock can be connected to any stereo or set of powered speakers via the 3.5mm line-out minijack (a patch cable with red and white stereo RCA jacks is included). A small wall wart AC adapter powers the dock, and--if it's near your computer--you can also plug in a standard mini-USB cable, and use it to sync to iTunes. An adjustable backstop is included to support varying sized iPods, and cradle accepts any of the standard sized tray inserts as well. Officially, it's compatible with all Nanos, Minis, and 4G and 5G iPods, but it seemed to work fine (albeit slowly) with an old 3G black-and-white model we had on hand as well.
The setup process is about as close to true plug-and-play as you can get. Drop the iPod into the dock (the DLO logo popping up on the screen means you've got a good connection, and the iPod is charging), and navigate to the "settings" menu on the remote. Click on "Download lists," and the DLO system will pull in the artists and playlists from the iPod. Note that you have to do this whenever you switch iPods, and it can take several minutes on models with large hard drives. Once the sync is complete, you're good to go--pull the DLO remote from the dock, and use it as you would your iPod. Because the remote uses RF (radio frequency) rather than IR (infrared) transmission, it works well through walls and other obstructions. We were able to still get a good 60 or 70 feet away, and still had no trouble choosing new songs or adjusting the volume.
Continue readingMost helpful user reviews
- Average user rating: 1.0 stars out of 5 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
-
Showing 3 of 5 user reviews
-
1 out of 1 people found this helpful
- See all 5 user reviews Write review
Submit your review
Where to buy
DLO HomeDock Music Remote:
$89.99 - $129.00
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Amazon.com Marketplace
|
$89.99 | Yes |
|
|
$129.00 | Yes |
|
